Books for ds - age 8, reading age 13ish.

At the moment ds is getting through a book a day, things like Percy Jackson, the Alex Rider books, Artemis Fowl. I'm happy for him to read whatever he wants, I don't want to push him, but I can't keep up with the demand. I was thinking that something a bit more difficult might slow him down a bit but he's not necessarily going to be interested in books aimed at teenagers. Any ideas? It doesn't have to be fiction - he likes non-fiction too. Science, dinosaurs and history.

Lemony Snicket, and the classics like Just William, Jennings, Narnia, E Nesbit, Mary Poppins, Dr Doolittle, Phantom Tollbooth, are good for challenging language but suitable content. Temeraire books, whilst fun, I would consider unsuitable for an 8 year old due to content.

If you don't mind evangelical atheism then Dawkins' Magic of Reality is an excellent read for a bright 8 year old

My DS is a very avid reader too, skulduggery pleasant is the current series of choice but trying the classics too. A fantastic book is Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. It is a children's book, beautifully written and may well be a good read? It's written in the magic-realist style and is packed to bursting with super characters, adventure and language play. (my DS is also 8)

He's also read the over sea under stone series (I had my copies still from when I was young) and really enjoyed those.

So many good ideas - thanks! Just sent granny a massive amazon wishlist...hopefully she'll bring a pile of books with her next time she visits.

I'll encourage him to re-read some of his books, and read for himself some that I have read him over the last couple of years. With some of these recommendations, and what we already have, we should be able to keep up the supply for a couple of months at least!

I've had similar with my own DD who is a bit older, it's great but keeping me on my toes trying to keep up with her & finding books that she will read that are 12/15 rating as opposed to 18 IYSWIM - she's now eating up James Patterson Maximilian Ride Series, they are YA books & I think there's 8 of them, they were recommended by a friend who had just finished reading them as suitable for a younger advanced reader & a fantastic read - DD is now obsessed with them

I was just coming along to post something similar so these are all great recommendations. Looking for Kindle recommendations too as bookshelves are full to bursting and I reckon the Kindle will be a good option for holidays, etc. to save taking a pile of books.

Anyway, my son's current favourite is Tales of the Five Kingdoms which I found for a bargain on Book People. He read all five in a week and has declared them better than Harry Potter (which held his heart for well over a year). Now he wants to go as one of the characters for World Book Day next week, which is a whole new problem ... :-)

Oh I can't believe I forgot all about the massive series of books that kept my DDs book obsession fed for a long while at this age R L Steine Horror books, there's a big series called Horrorland that she absolutely loves, chattered on about them so much I even read them myself & they are good he also had the goosebumps series, there's hundreds of books to choose from, so well worth looking into - I should as my DDs book taste has never really been particularly girls, she still mostly favours horror & science fiction.

Another vote for Watership Down (as long as he's not easily upset as bits of it are scary and sad). Also, DS and I are currently working through Mrs Frisby and The Rats of Nimh, which is terrific; moderately challenging vocab, interesting concepts but nothing too emotionally complicated for an 8 year old.

SOrry, meant to add, my DS is a very good reader as well, but also quite probably somewhere on the autism spectrum, so things that are a bit emotionally complex don't really work - and I wouldn't be at all keen to let him at The Hunger Games or suchlike just yet because it would just bemuse him.

DS1 is 13 but his reading tastes are very different. The titles on his shelf read like the original longlist for the names of the horsemen of the apocalypse: 'The Fear', 'Plague', The Fury', 'The Enemy' etc.

Mind you, I was That Kid when I was younger, used to drive my mother nuts (and also used to quietly get hold of all sorts that Wasn't Really Suitable such as HP Lovecraft and Alan Garner (far too much sexual and class tension for 8 year olds)).

Nicholas Fisk is interesting and I certainly liked some of the books as a kid, but I think they have dated a bit. Mind you, I also think that a lot of the best books for this sort of young-but-keen reader were the ones published in the late 60s and early 70s.